MANTLE OF THE EXPERT SCRIPT TO USE WITH FS AND KS1 CHILDREN ON THE SUBJECT OF “HOW AND WHY DO I AND OTHERS CELEBRATE?”

This unit of work will address the following key questions from the South Glos RE syllabus:

  • What celebrations are important to me? (Meaning & Purpose)
  • How do people (myself and others) celebrate? (MP)
  • Why do people (myself and others) celebrate? (MP)
  • What happens at Christmas? (Practices & Lifestyles)
  • Which faith stories are linked with different festivals?/ How is the story of Jesus’ birth celebrated at Christmas? (Expression & Language)
  • Why is Christmas important to Christians? (MP)

The level statements which are addressed and could be assessed through this unit of work are as follows:

LEVEL 1

  • I can tell my teacher some things about a religious story I have heard.
  • I can recognise some things that religious people do.
  • I know about some words and objects used by religious people and can talk about them
  • I can talk about things that happen to me.
  • I can talk about what is important to me and why.
  • I can show how I feel about what I am learning.
  • I can say what I find interesting or puzzling.

LEVEL 2

  • I can retell some religious stories and talk about why they are important to religious people.
  • I can tell my teacher about some things religious people do and why they do them.
  • I can talk about some of the things that are the same for different religions (if similar activity undertaken on e.g. Divali or Sukkoth)
  • I can ask my own questions and I know that some questions are difficult to answer.
  • I can talk about feelings and experiences that are important to me and others.

CHRISTMAS MANTLE OF THE EXPERT SCRIPT

Hello everyone and thank you for coming today. My friend Elizabeth here is having a special party and she really wanted you to be here so that you could share the excitement and the celebrations with her.

She is having a party because it is nearly Christmas and Christmas is an important festival for her. Elizabeth is a Christian.

You probably already know why Christians like to celebrate at Christmas time but Elizabeth wants to tell you about it anyway because it is one of her favourite stories and she likes telling it and talking about what happens. She wants you to know that you can read the story of the first Christmas in the Bible and she has brought a Bible with her today to show you. We can find the story of Christmas in the Bible..here…but Elizabeth doesn’t want to read it to you she wants to tell it to you because she knows it so well.

Because this is a story which is special for Christians, we are going to light a candle to remind us of how special it is. When we have finished telling the story we will blow out the candle.

Elizabeth gets a bit shy when there are lots of people around so she has asked me to tell the story for her. She also asked me to ask you all to listen very carefully and quietly. She thinks that some of you might find the story as special as she does and she wants you to enjoy listening.

Light the candle.

A long, long time ago in a country quite different to ours a lady found out that she was going to have a baby. She was very surprised when she found out especially as it was an angel who told her! She was scared when she first saw the angel because she had never seen one before but he told her not to be afraid as he had very happy news for her. When she had got used to the surprise, she was really excited because the angel had said that her baby was going to be very special and important. He even said that her baby was going to be the son of god!

The lady was called Mary and she was married to a man called Joseph. Mary and Joseph had to go on a long journey not long before the baby was due to be born. They had to walk for days and days to get to a town called Bethlehem. Mary’s baby had grown very big inside her by this time and she got very tired as she walked on the journey. Joseph looked after her and made sure that she could ride on a donkey for a lot of the way. When they finally got to Bethlehem there were lots and lots of other people there and Mary and Joseph couldn’t find a hotel to stay in. They were very sad about this but a kind man said that they could spend the night in his stable with his animals! What a strange place to stay for a night but Mary and Joseph were so tired by then that they said yes and got ready to spend the night on the straw!

Although it felt odd at first with the noises and smells made by the cows and horses and the donkey, Mary and Joseph felt safe and were grateful to the kind man. They settled down to sleep because they were very very tired after their long journey. But just as they were about to fall asleep, Mary felt that her baby was going to be born. She was a bit worried because she wasn’t expecting to have her baby in a stable but Joseph kept looking after her and she knew that she would be ok.

Before the end of the night in the warmth of the stable and with the animals looking on, Mary had a baby boy and she gave him the name Jesus, which is what the angel had said he should be called.

On the same night some shepherds were looking after their sheep on the nearby hills. Suddenly, the skies lit up as if there were bright lights shining above them! They could hear singing as well and some of them thought they could see angels. They were really scared because they had never seen anything like this before and they didn’t know what was going on! Then they heard a loud voice telling them not to be afraid but to be happy! The voice said that in Bethlehem a special baby had been born and that he was going to be a king. The angels told the shepherds that they could go and visit the baby and be the first people who would see him. They were excited then. They stopped feeling so frightened and hurried off to find the baby. The angel had told them that they would find him in a stable under a bright star.

They found the stable and inside were Mary and Joseph and their new baby boy, Jesus. They knew that this baby was going to be a very special person, a king. Some even said that he was the son of God!

Blow out the candle.

Now that is one of Elizabeth’s favourite stories. She believes that Jesus was a very special baby and her family still celebrate his birthday every year. This celebration is called Christmas. She thinks that some of you might celebrate it as well. Does anyone? Shall we see if the way that Elizabeth celebrates is the same as the way that some of you celebrate?

Well, her family like to remember that Christmas was the time when Jesus was born because they believe that Jesus was the son of God. They put in their house a set of little models to remind them of the story. This is hers – do any of you have one of these at home? Or have you seen one anywhere? Shall we see if we can work out who the different people are?.... At Christmas time, Elizabeth’s family put this in their lounge so that every time they go in there they remember the story about when Jesus was born.

They also put up decorations like this…..around the house because they want it to feel as if they are celebrating and having a party. Do any of you do that? How do the decorations in your house make you feel? Elizabeth’s decorations make her feel excited and happy. She thinks that Jesus would like people to feel happy when they remember the time when he was born. What do you think about this? How do you think that Jesus would feel about people putting up decorations to celebrate his birthday?

Another thing that Elizabeth’s family does is to send cards to their family and friends. They are called Christmas cards but Elizabeth likes to think that they are birthday cards for Jesus. She wants you to think of reasons why they send cards like this – what do you think? These are some of the cards that she and her family send. She has seen ones like this in the shops as well…… why do you think people send cards like this?

On Christmas Day, Elizabeth wakes up feeling very excited! Do you know that feeling? Why do you feel excited on Christmas morning? She is excited because on Christmas Day she and her family give each other presents and she loves this part of the celebration. She has saved one of her presents to open with you. Shall we open it together? It says it’s from her mum. Let’s see what’s inside…

Elizabeth’s family have fun together on Christmas Day and they have special food. Do you have special food on Christmas Day?.... Why do you think people celebrate Christmas with presents and special food? Elizabeth knows why she does this but she wants to know what you think about it.

Elizabeth has shared with us some ideas about how and why she and her family celebrate Christmas. What she would like us all to do now is to think of some questions we would like to ask her. Maybe you would like to ask her about why she and her family think that Christmas is such a special celebration…. Or maybe you have some questions about the story of when Jesus was born…

Now Elizabeth would like us to help her to celebrate by making something that reminds us of the Christmas story and why people celebrate it. What ideas can we come up with together for things that we can make or do? (Ideas to include Christmas cards, decorations, picture of nativity scene, models of the nativity characters and angels…)

Have available a selection of creative materials for the children to use to show what they think is an important thing to remember when celebrating Christmas.

RESOURCES

  • Persona Dolls
  • Nativity scene
  • 2 types of Christmas cards, various examples
  • Decorations
  • Wrapped present
  • Candle and matches
  • Party biscuits
  • Creative materials e.g. paper, card, glue, pens, paints, glitter, pencils…

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MJ Nov2010